Nuclear bomb 'lost near Greenland'

The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber (US Air Force Photo)

By Jon Leyne

An American nuclear bomb - lost in an air crash - may still lie in the sea off Greenland, according to a report published in a Danish newspaper.

The newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, says the bomb was on board an American B-52 bomber which crashed in 1968 close to the American airbase at Thule - in the north-west of the Danish arctic island.

The huge planes, which are still in service, were designed to deliver the nuclear deterrent deep inside the Soviet Union.

According to the newspaper report, after a clean up operation, the US assured Denmark that all weapons on board the crashed aircraft had been accounted for.

But the paper says that only three out of four nuclear weapons carried by the plane were actually recovered.

Serial number

It says that detective work by former employees at the airbase indicates that one bomb is probably still on the seabed.

It even quotes the serial number - which it says is 78252.

The remote airbase at Thule plays an important role in America's nuclear defences.

It is the site of a radar station designed to give early warning of incoming ballistic missiles.

Missile plan

If Washington goes ahead with its plan to deploy a national missile defence system, the radar at Thule will need to be upgraded.

The plan is already facing heavy opposition in Greenland and among the rest of America's trans-Atlantic allies.

If this latest revelation proves true it can only be a further cause of friction.